


An Angel: Or, If Not, An Earthly Paragon.

by AliNear, brionylarkin



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: 1954, Family Bonding, Katz family is best family, Klaus has an issue with running away, M/M, Racism, Someone did it was the Katz, Someone sit this family down to talk, They think Klaus isn't human, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:09:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21715099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliNear/pseuds/AliNear, https://archiveofourown.org/users/brionylarkin/pseuds/brionylarkin
Summary: In Five's defense time traveling without a time traveling device is hard, but with seven people? That should be impossible, but he did it.Look he didn't mean to send them into the 1950s but whose complaining?Okay... Okay they all are.Except Klaus, Klaus is perfectly okay with the detour to 1950 and what that would mean for his love life.The 1950s aren't great but at least the moon is in one piece and the world isn't burning up. Baby Steps! Oh yeah, not dead boyfriend is also a great side affect of the time period.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Dave/Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Everyone, Klaus Hargreeves & The Katz
Comments: 28
Kudos: 236





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you wonderful people from the not so wonderful tumblr that helped me hash out some of the details. please this is here for your- mainly mine but also i guess your- enjoyment.

The fact of the matter is the Klaus didn’t think about it at first. Between two unconscious siblings and one revived, the racism that had Diego stuttering and movie star Allison stumbling, Klaus had been to busy securing them a place to sleep. Not trusting the boy who never left the mansion or the one that had been dead to find them a safe place that would also overlook and or not pay attention to the group of seven, 13-year-olds, two of which were passed out. Even with the motel Klaus found, Diego had gotten side eyed for carrying Vanya; eyes suspicious as they walked by.

1954, Five had shot right passed 2019, and the year they were actual 13 2002, they bypassed their birth year and were now stranded in 1954. Klaus is reeling, mind buzzing and body shaking, sinking into the motel bed he was sharing with Ben. Luther wasn’t a giant anymore, and Allison wasn’t injured. 13-year-old body meant significantly less drugs, so he was giddy with the sudden clear sobriety that snapped everything into focus. His fingers curled into the scratchy comforter, idle tracing shapes on the walls with his eyes. His mind was buzzing, and his body was bubbling with the anxiety. It swelled in his chest and made him nearly nauseous with the ache to do anything and everything but having nothing to do nor the emotional motivation to do it. _He was forgetting something._ He was sure of it, hands flying up to absently play with his dog tags, mind still repeating the last two days’ worth of events in agonizing details.

_He had died._ He was pretty sure he should feel something about that but those words repeated over and over and over in his head like a statement, like he should dissect it and break it down and do those stupid charts that they were taught so long ago. _He had died._ Check. That’s how he had started that day, his brother strangling him - _just like old times!_ And dying. _Luther left him, Luther the shinning leader, Luther left him because he wasn’t worth saving, he wasn’t worth anything. Not to them._ It was hard enough, to lose Dave and- Dave. The ball of anxiety sent tingles down to his toes and fingers but the tightness of uncertainty and bubbling of need lessened like someone had sprung a leak in a dam, making his shoulders relax even as his heart sped up.

Klaus shot up, nearly springing off the bed and straight into the wall in his heist. Stumbling over his uncoordinated- _uncoordinated on a bad day but now his strides weren’t a long and he still have a few shoe sizes to grow into._ Peering over his shoulder he eyed Ben as he mumbled in his sleep, rolling over to snuggle farther into the pillow, his hands still clutching the other pillow to his chest. Klaus couldn’t help but smile fondly, lips tugging and his chest aching fiercely at the elation Ben had shown at being about to touch and feel things again. It was adorable. Scratch that, 13-year-old Ben with a baby face was adorable in general, watching him light up and smile softly as he hugged the pillow? That’s it, no more contestants, Ben is the most adorable in the family. Even if Vanya stayed tiny and huggable into adulthood, Ben beats her hands down.

Nodding at his brother’s sleeping form his eyes slide across the room to Allison’s and Vanya’s bed. The girls obviously sharing with the two brother’s Vanya would probably least likely to murder or want to. Allison was on her back, star fishing out even as Vanya’s head stayed firmly on Allison’s chest with a couple of her curls splayed on Vanya’s pale face.

Lightly Klaus stepped round the room, gathering some twenty dollars Klaus had pick pocketed for the family, leaving the other thirty behind for them. _Shut up Luther, they needed the money, it’s for a good cause- their cause._

Humming he slipped on his shoes and out the door, creeping past the room next door- _Past Five (still passed out and now snoring) and Diego (ever awake, sharpening his knives and eyeing the door like It would bust open and show case a monster) and Luther (taking up the entirety of the second bed as he laid face down and arms splayed out)._ Klaus wondered if they’d notice he was gone before realizing even if they didn’t Ben would. Ben would worry about him and wonder where he was, and- his chest seized, and a new wave of anxiety hit. _He had never been alone like this. Not really. Ben had been there growing up and then followed him after death, in Vietnam Dave had taken one look and tucked Klaus under his wing. For the first time in almost forever… Klaus would be alone for this journey. But for the first time in his life… he was running towards something instead of just away from it._

Klaus walked down the street, ignoring the chill in the air and small burning sense of guilt of leaving his family, instead turning to the giddiness that made his cheeks hurt from his smile. April 1, 1954… Dave would be 14 almost 15. Klaus tried to imagine it. Curly hair and face still showing some baby fat. He knew this Dave wouldn’t remember him. His heart ached fiercely at that. But Klaus preferred a beating heart to memories- Klaus would do anything if the image of his lover _bleeding and pale and on the forest floor and god where were the medics?_ Would be scorched from his brain, please he didn’t want to remember Dave that way. This Dave wouldn’t remember and hadn’t been through war, but it was still Dave. So, what choice did he have but to go to him? _They were soulmates._

Klaus counted the money, shoving most of it in his pocket and only leaving two crisp dollars out, he walked into the bus station. It was nearly empty in the middle of the night, those in yawning and rubbing at sleep heavy eyes. Walking up to the counter he couldn’t help but silently thank Dave for telling him so many stories about the farm he grew up in.

“Excuse me, do you have any buses going to Kansas?” Klaus asked quietly, wondering if any of the slang he learned in ’68 could and would be used now.

Accepting the ticket and change he thanked the worker, trying his best to imitate Dave’s manners. Leisurely he slides into a seat and waited for his bus, humming to himself and drowning out the dead with thoughts of Dave.

Some thousand miles away a curly haired blond boy slept in his bed, ignoring the sounds of his brother’s snoring with practice ease, he dreamt of being able to hold hands with who he wanted and telling his family he was in love and even though the face of his boyfriend in the dream changed the eyes stayed a hazel green, mumbling he curled the blanket tighter around himself and turned over, unaware of what the day would bring him.

In the dingy motel room only a few blocks away, Ben woke up with a full bladder, something he hadn’t done in years. Blurry eyed he stumbled into the bathroom and back out, ready to curl back under the blanket when his eyes finally focused. He scanned the room mechanistically like they were all trained to, trying to spot what set the monsters rippling through his skin. Allison was turned away from him having tucked Vanya into her side and using her as a cuddly toy. The door was locked and closed, and blinds tightly shut. The pillow he had been clutching was on the floor and the comforter wrinkled and-Klaus was not there. For a moment he didn’t think, closing his eyes and trying to feel the low thum of warmth Klaus admitted to the dead, the pull that had kept Ben tethered and sane through his death- but it wasn’t there, the only thing he felt was the beating of his heart and the air left his lungs with that realization.

His mouth dropped open. Klaus was gone. His heartbeat wildly in his chest. **Klaus was gone.** his lungs protested as he wheezed. **_Klaus was gone. Klaus who he hadn’t left for longer then a few hours, Klaus who he took care of and in turn took care of him, the brother that he had been glued to for fourteen years, Klaus the ones the others so easily overlooked. KLAUS WAS GONE._** The creature roared within him.

Ben screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've joined forces! Beware!

Klaus was one of fourteen passengers from the city, as such had ample space in the bus. Climbing towards the back he claimed a window seat. Without much thought, he pulled his feet off the ground and up, tucking his chin in the crevasse between his knees as he leaned towards the window, eyes vacant as they pulled out of the station.

Had he been paying attention instead of letting the exhaustion from the last few days- the last year- take him away, he might have noticed the bus passing the motel he had left those hours ago, the one his siblings were in. 

Had he had the energy to pay attention he would have caught sight of Vanya sitting on the sidewalk in front of the motel looking dazed as she held Ben’s shaking form close. He might have even caught sight of Luther lifting the dumpster in the alley next to the motel as Diego ventured further in. 

He could have possibly even seen Five and Allison going in and out of stores and approaching bystanders, faces set in worried frowns and Five still stumbling from his own exhaustion.

Klaus might have seen this and called out to stop the bus, wondering what his siblings were looking for or why Ben was crying. He might have been confused at the panic on their faces, but stayed seated and waved as he passed by.

That is not what happened. Instead, Klaus let his vision blur with the gray of the city and the movement of the bus, eyes sliding closed and head hitting the window. His left leg slid out from under him, jerking him forwards slightly and breaking up his little breathless snores for a moment before they evened out. Instead of seeing his siblings, his mind wandered and weaved until he was at a familiar disco, smoke heavy in the air as he danced. Dave leaned against the bar and watched with his dimpled smile.

Spreading his arm out, Klaus beckoned. “Davey,” he cooed, “Private Davey Katz you’re needed on the dance floor.”

Dave’s curls bounced as he threw his head back and laughed. Smiling at the familiar scene and rejoicing in the deep laughter, Klaus tried again.

“Private Dave Katz-”

The dream bled away, showing Klaus a skin tone darker from the sun and sporting more muscle then he had had for the entirety of his adult life. The room they were in was small and only had a single bed but was better than sharing the room with four or five of their squad mates. Perks, Klaus knew, from Dave’s promotion.

“Corporal David Katz,” Klaus mused, sliding his hands up to run his fingers through the loose curls at the base of Dave’s neck.

Smiling Dave dropped a kiss onto Klaus head, allowing his hands to trail down and curl around his waist, still stick thin even with a semi regular- if disgusting – diet.

“You know it doesn’t mean anything, doll face.”

“Still! It sounds nice… important. Corporal David Katz.”

Snorting at the seriousness of his lover’s voice Dave couldn’t help but tease him. “Now, it sounds like you just like saying my name.”

Smiling cheekily, Klaus twirled away, mindful of the smallness of their room. “What if I do, Corporal David Katz?”

Huffing Dave followed the movement with his eyes, watching Klaus giggle to himself. “Now the only thing that sounds better than that would be… hmmm… a Private Klaus Katz, wouldn’t it?”

Klaus stopped twirling, grinding to a halt as he tried to figure out why, for the first time since he was a child, his cheeks felt warm with a blush.

“Why…” he started off, moving back over towards Dave’s space. “Are you proposing, David Katz?” Peering into those blue eyes, Klaus felt breathless.

“Wh-why, what if I am?”

“Well, Mr. and Mr. David Katz sound awfully nice.”

“Mr. and Mr. David Katz.” Klaus whispered later into the night, Dave’s arm draped over his bare midriff, blanket caught between falling off the bed and staying tangled in the sheets. “I dare say,” he mused, “that we might be soulmates.”

“ _Mr. David Katz.”_

David Katz Sr. had led a full and even sometimes interesting life. He was born in 1874, in Germany, where his family had had a woodshop for several generations already. He grew up running around Stuttgart with his siblings and many cousins, causing as much trouble as possible and, as they got older, chasing pretty girls.

Eventually, David met and married a nice, respectable girl named Ruth. She was also Jewish, a fact both sets of parents were happy about. 

They settled down around the same time David’s older brother, Joseph, also got married. The two couples ran the shop together for a time, before Joseph decided to open another shop in Berlin. He and his wife moved fairly quickly, leaving the shop in David’s hands.

It was only a little after this that Ruth fell pregnant. The healthy baby boy was born in the summer of 1901, arriving just a little bit early. 

The baby, named Jacob after David’s father, was raised utterly normal. He had his Bar Mitzvah at thirteen, ran around with his friends, rebelled against his father’s rules, but ultimately decided to run the shop with his father. He was David’s only child. 

David was always very close with his extended family, so Jacob grew up amongst them, with a cousin or two over everyday, or an aunt coming to make dinner when Ruth was busy. 

When new clients commented on the amount of children underfoot and how nice it must be to have so many people around, David would laugh and jokingly comment.

“Well, I can’t get them to leave, can I?”

David kept running the shop mostly by himself until he was nearly fifty, when he finally allowed a newly married Jacob to take on partial ownership. 

Jacob and his wife, Martha, had their first child only a few months after they were married, which had every elderly family member in a tizzy for months. They had another child very quickly after the first, which was a pain while also running a shop. 

The family stepped in to help and soon the shop was buzzing like never before. But instead of their neighbors congratulating them, they were regarded with suspicion. 

“How come they’re doing so well?” a snide housewife asked, glaring at the Katzes through the window. “And us hard working Germans are struggling.” 

These murmurs became more frequent over the next few years. When Jacob and Martha had their third child in 1937, there was no joyful announcement, only a quiet celebration with immediate family.

Soon enough, the whispers turned into changes in the law and David could see where this was going. He was old, not stupid. He started making plans to leave Germany, in secret, so he didn’t alarm his family.

Those plans were almost finished when Kristallnacht happened. 

David hobbled into the shop the family had run for decades, saw his daughter-in-law trying to console his screaming grandchildren, and decided enough was enough. 

“Dad,” Jacob said, trying to hold back tears. “Everything’s ruined.”

David just nodded and told them to pack their things. 

They went to America, where a few Katzes had immigrated a couple of years back. They were more than willing to take in more family, and soon David, Ruth, Jacob, Martha, and the kids were settled in Kansas. 

It was just in time, too. No sooner were they comfortable in their new location, then Martha was realizing she was pregnant again. 

David Katz died on April 2nd, 1939. 

_“Mr. David Katz.”_

David Katz II was born July 23rd, 1939. 

_“MR. DAVID KATZ.”_

David startled awake on a bus of all places, far away from his family’s kitchen where he’d just been. He stumbled forward, absolutely confused, but also, strangely aware. 

Ever since he’d died, even keeping track of the days was a struggle. Weeks would pass without him even realizing it. His granddaughter turned seventeen and he had thought she was still twelve. 

But now, it was as if he could finally focus properly. It was like finally getting the right prescription lenses and being able to see clearly.

“What the hell?” he murmured to himself, looking around the bus, wondering what could have dragged him here. Was a family member traveling?

His eyes got stuck on a scrawny thirteen year old curled up in a window seat. His eyes were closed and he had a small smile, but he was twitching even in his sleep. If David was still alive, he’d ask the boy where his parents were. No child should be traveling alone like he was.

The boy mumbled something indistinctly.

“Huh?” David said despite knowing no one could hear him. “You gotta speak up.”

“Dave,” the boy mumbled. “Mr. David Katz.”

David realized what had called him here. “Oh, it’s you.” He scratched his stubble. “What is going on with you, kid?” He looked around. “Where are you going?”

_“Mr. David Katz.”_


	3. Chapter 3

Klaus woke up a several hours later and a good hundred miles away from the city and his siblings. The bus and thus Klaus were still hours and hours away from Dave, not that that was his first thought. Actually, his thought processes went something like this…

He muttered lowly, asking Ben if he should get pancakes or eggs before he remembered Ben was alive now too so would Ben like pancakes or eggs. He then jolted up, smacking his head against the glass with a small thump when he realized his constant companion/shoulder conscious was no at his side and for the first time in what he was positive was his whole life- he was alone. He sat with that thought for a while, tracing back and remembering his siblings by his side growing up and then Ben when he finally left the academy, Dave offered him a hand in Vietnam before he was introduced to the others… for the first time he had no one to fall back on or act as his common sense filter… huh, what a strange, strange thing. He wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. Part of him wanted to shout ‘Freedom!’ as loudly as he could but mostly- as the bubbling in his chest confirmed, he very much wished for one of his siblings to be by his side, at least till he got to Dave.

His last thought, which was the thought that actually made him open his eyes was that for public transportation it was rather quiet for him not being high.

He opened his eyes right as the bus hit a particularly bad pothole, making him fly slightly up and out of the seat into the divot between the seat he was in and the one in front of him. Blearily he blinked around the bus floor vaguely remembered his plan to see Dave- which is the best decision he’s ever made if he did say so. Afterall who wouldn’t want to see Dave!- when his eyes finally focused on a rather strange sight- which, that s to say, if he thought it was strange then it was pretty much unheard of because if Klaus knew anything it was about what most people considered strange or unusual as that was really where he shined.

So, he focused on the strange sight and the reasons it was so quiet on the bus, even though he wasn’t high and Ben wasn’t there to threaten the ghosties that tried to touch him- _oh gods they could touch him now.-_

Swallowing the fear, he watched the older man standing in the middle of the bus isle. The man himself wasn’t that strange with salty gray hair and wearing a green button up tucked into dark dress pants, he practically screamed normal upstanding citizen. The man’s frown held firm as he shushed the moaning lady with a caved in skull and waved his hands to shoo the man with his neck snapped that kept trying to creep onto the bus like an unwanted cat. Klaus watched him in awe. Staring for a long while before he realized- as he glanced around the bus quizly- that the man himself was dead.

“Huh” Klaus mumbled to himself, turning his head to watch the man lazily, resting his head against the seat cushion instead of climbing back up. Settling his long legs- but not long enough, they would grow he knew- against the cold floor of the bus.

Klaus eyed the man thoughtfully, something about the man was familiar. _The shape of his nose, maybe?_ Absently moving his foot away from fresh gum stuck to the floor. _His brain itched as he tried to remember where he’d seen him before._ His fingers twitched rhythmically against his thighs as he watched. _Is it the shape of his nose? The curl of his hair?_ He began to mutter allowed, wishing more than even Ben was there. _Was this one of the ghost’s that haunt him in the future?_ Ben would have been able to recognize him for Klaus. His hand’s flexed as he tried to keep himself from scratching his arms. _Surely, he would have noticed a nice man like him, shooing away the mean ghosties?_ Leaning back, he prepared to wait. _Surely the man ghost, no matter how nice, would tell him why he was here soon enough._

Klaus wasn’t sure how much time had passed, with the low lights of the bus and his angle on the floor, the only thing out the window he saw was the sky, slowly lightning up and changing to blue. The man began to mutter angrily to himself between shooing the other man off the bus. His voice coming out in a language that while it sounded familiar, Klaus couldn’t name or place where he had heard it from. Content to listen either way, he nearly jolted out of his nook when he heard a familiar word.

“Zhlob,” the man swore, eyes glaring at the other dead.

His mind wondered for a moment trying to pull up the meaning of the word before he remembered Dave fondly referring to the other 173rd as Zhlobs.

“Oh! They don’t do they!” he crowed in delight, gaining the ghostie attention.

The man sends him an amused glance- like a grandfather would send a child- before sending a harsh shush towards the woman.

“I don’t think she’s going to stop,” Klaus told him before he opened his mouth to scold her some more, “like you said she’s got no manners!”

The man turned slowly; eyebrows raised as he looked at him in shock. Klaus couldn’t keep his eyes from glancing at the woman before meeting his gaze as steadily as he could. Which wasn’t steady at all.

“You can see me boy?”

Scrunching up his nose Klaus couldn’t help but blurt out, “Not a boy,” pausing for a moment he continued, “I do use he/him but,” he grimaced, “Not a boy.”

The man stares barely jolting as the bus hits another pothole. He turns away from the woman and takes a hesitant step towards Klaus, freezing when Klaus couldn’t stop the flinch from sliding up his spine and making him hit his head on the window.

“Ah,” Klaus realized, “Yes, I can see you…and them.” He said, sweeping his arm out to gesture towards the other spirits.

“Well, alright…kid.” He says after a moment, “I’m David Katz.” He introduced holding out a hand before taking it back at Klaus rather terrified gaze.

Glancing up at him Klaus couldn’t help but blurt out, “No you’re not.”

Several miles away Ruth woke up as the sky turned gold under the morning sun. A time she had gotten use to waking up at after the birth of her only child, Jacob, and had kept as her schedule through the moving countries, the birth of each grandchild, and the loss of her husband. So, with a stretch and a crack of her bones, Ruth pulled herself out of bed and made her way into the kitchen.

Jacob was already up, making coffee diligently as he softly whispered her a good morning. Patting her son’s shoulder, she gathered eggs and a pan from their cupboards and began to make breakfast. It was as she finished the first batch of egg that her daughter-in-law woke, kissing Jacob good morning she sipped her coffee before setting the table.

“Ah, Mama,” Jacob said fondly, “Remember Alma isn’t here, we don’t need as much anymore.”

Ruth side eyed him for a moment, humming under her breath, “What is left of my grandchildren are two bottomless pits.”

Giggling softly, Marth placed the last of the five plates down before hurriedly going to wake her sons up.

“They don’t eat as much as Daniel did.” Ruth shrugged before waving the spatula at her son, “Now, Daniel knew how to eat.”

“Morning Bobeshi,” Arthur muttered, kissing her cheek before slumping over the table, grabbing the coffee his mother had left out.

“Morning,” David yawned soon after, blinking against the kitchen lights.

“With how you are, it’s a wonder none of you children adore the morning.” She couldn’t help but point out, watching her grandchildren rub their eyes and look around sluggishly.

“Danny is a morning person.” He pointed out, taking out some orange juice for David.

“Was a morning person,” Marth tutted, coming back into the kitchen and smoothing out David’s curls as much as she could.

“College does that.” Arthur told them, finally focusing on the conversation, “That’s what Mr. Jameson said, and he was talking about undergraduate programs.”

Humming softly at his words Ruth ask, “You are starting to apply?” as she hurriedly brings the pan filled with eggs over.

“A few, I’m looking for schools that teach about physics and the likes.”

“Now, what are you going to do with that?”

“Arty wants to build airplanes Bobeshi.” David says as he reaches over to heap a mountainous pile of eggs onto his plate.

And thus, the morning for the Katz family started like any other, unknown of ~~what~~ who was heading towards them.


End file.
